93-year-old looks back on Navy career

Bob Robinson’s uncle enlisted in the military in 1939, and Bob remembers the stories he told when he’d return home for visits from Alaska and Hawaii. 

“In January of 1942, six weeks after World War II started, my uncle was killed when his ship was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine,” Bob recalls. “All the teenagers in our family said we’d join the Navy someday. There were four of us and we all did.”

Bob chose the military as a career, enlisting on May 20, 1946, the day after his high school graduation, and heading to San Diego for boot camp. He retired as a commander 27 years later and insists he doesn’t deserve the status of veteran – he views veterans as those who made greater sacrifices than his.  

He spent most of his first several years on a submarine and met his first wife, Marie, during ROTC duty at the University of Oklahoma. Bob was chosen for officer candidate school in 1957 and was commissioned in the Navy Supply Corps before retiring in 1973 and returning to Iowa for a 22-year career at Wayne Engineering.  

Bob also used his master's degree in international relations to teach night classes at Upper Iowa University. “I always wanted to teach,” Bob says. “I taught political science, international relations, foreign policy and the American legislative process.” 

His love of history and learning still guides Bob’s life; he took more than 40 trips between 2006 and 2012. Now he reads avidly; his bookshelves include more than 200 books on history.  

With deep appreciation to Bob and all veterans for their service as we observe Veterans Day.

Bob holding a photo of him and his daughter, who also had a career in the Navy.